Fenimore Park clean-up

Athletes typically spend their Saturday mornings traveling to games or practicing for their next big match. On Sept. 20, about 40 Eastern student athletes used those early weekend hours towards another cause.

Radnor Township put out a request just a few weeks prior, looking for volunteers to help in a community-wide effort to clean up Fenimore Woods, the park that borders Eastern’s campus. When Camrin Azzarano, the newly named Coordinator of Community Outreach for the Athletic Department, heard about the project, she decided to pass it on to the other coaches.

“It was a great opportunity for us to directly serve the community that we live in,” said Azzarano, who serves as the head coach for both field hockey and women’s lacrosse.

Members of the men’s and women’s soccer, field hockey, and men’s and women’s lacrosse teams joined students from Villanova and community residents as they planted trees, cleaned trash from the pond and removed invasive vines and water plant species from the park and pond.

Involvement with the clean-up was not mandatory, Azzarano said, because the athletic department believes community service needs to come from the heart.

This project was the first that Azzarano has overseen in her new position.

“My responsibility is to try to help our sports teams become active in serving our immediate community, Eastern’s campus, as well as reaching out to people in need,” she said. “There’s a philosophy that we are not to just grow strong athletes but to grow strong individuals.”